Ditch 'discredited' Macfarlanes report into Bumi, says Nat Rothschild

Nat Rothschild has called for the Macfarlanes report into $2bn (£1.25bn) of
alleged “financial irregularities” at Bumi’s Indonesian operations to be
ditched, claiming it has been “discredited” by pressure from the board.

Making his claim on the eve of Thursday's board meeting to discuss the law firm’s findings, the financier said he wanted a fresh inquiry by a “retired High Court judge”.

“It would take him three hours to work out what has gone on and that [Bumi chairman] Samin Tan knew about it,” he claimed. “The Macfarlanes report is totally contaminated.”

Mr Rothschild, who quit the board in October, is writing to Bumi’s senior independent director, Sir Julian Horn-Smith, demanding a “genuinely independent review”. Tensions are already running high after Mr Rothschild, who has 18.2pc of the votes, last week called an EGM in a bid to oust 12 of Bumi’s 14 directors.

The financier, who created Bumi in 2010 through an ill-fated $3bn (£1.87bn) deal with Indonesia’s Bakrie family, is furious at leaks suggesting Macfarlanes will criticise him for allegedly failing to co-operate fully with its investigation, while also exonerating Mr Tan. “There would be no inquiry unless I’d pushed for an inquiry,” he said.

Macfarlanes is expected to claim it did not get a satisfactory response when questioning Mr Rothschild over the provenance of material passed to him by a whistleblower. He said he had a “duty of care” to the whistleblower and has co-operated.